Dithering old Sir Win Bischoff at Lloyds

Sir Win was 70 on the 10th May this year and he’s talking about doing another 4 or 5 years at Lloyds.

Well given his performance over the last few weeks he’s beginning to look well past it.

Despite his key relationship being with Chief Exec Antonio he failed to notice his man going off the rails until Antonio pretty much broke "on the job" and had to leave the building for extended sick leave. 

Sir Win’s first move then to appoint Tim Tookey as Interim leader, a man who had already been paid off and starts his new job in February.

Then after a couple of weeks Sir Win totally spooks the markets by appointing a different interim “in case” Antonio does not come back in the time frame Sir Win had promised. 

It turns out his choice this time is David Roberts who 2 years ago left his job at an Austrian Bank due to ill health with heart problems, blimey !!

The same day Nathan Bostock the highly trumpeted new head of retail poached from RBS and friend of Antonio then announces he’s not coming so to counter that Sir Win announces to the City that Lloyds are in negotiations with George Culmer to be new Finance Director. To which his employer RSA immediately stated he is on a 12 months notice period.

Could Sir Win have handled this any worse. These issues are not that difficult in comparison to the complexities over branch sales, redundancies, tier 1 capital, Euro exposure etc. 

It’s time the Lloyds Board got focused and concentrated on getting the company out of this mess rather than dithering around. 

It looks to me that the dithering Sir Win needs to leave before his 71st birthday and take his top team with him. 

Whilst many Private Investors are losing their livelihoods through this mess the Lloyds Board just blunder on regardless. 

Next thing I’m going to be very interested in is what bonuses the Lloyds Directors award themselves for their performance this year. 

I’m struggling to see how this could possibly be regarded as anything other than abject failure on their part. 

David Cameron, over to you on that one !!! 

Buy troubled Bank of America, the share price goes up 25%, how can Buffett ever lose?

How can you lose as an investor if just the fact that you buy a share makes the market also buy it and sends the price up by 25%.

Such is the case with Warren Buffett and his $5 billion dollar purchase of shares in the struggling Bank of America.

It does send a tremendous message of confidence out to the World that the Worlds greatest analyst is buying big into Banks.

He was buying further into Wells Fargo Bank last week and is said to own 9.5 million shares in them.

Which makes us here at Dunover.com feel a whole lot better because thats exactly where we are. 

Heavily invested in Lloyds and also in RBS and convinced the Banks will recover from these rock bottom prices in the next year or two.

The only doubt in my mind being that Warren Buffet at 80 years old may have just lost his marbles ....

Warren Buffetts Eureka moment in the bath tub:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1278.0  

Steve Jobs, Sir Terry Leahy, Alan Parker are gone, where are the stars of the future

If you ever believed 3 individuals were their company than look no further than those above.

Steve Jobs resigns on health grounds and suddenly the supremacy of apple becomes a major doubt.

Sir Terry Leahy leaving Tesco sparks an exodus from his disappointed board members who were aspiring to the job.

Alan Parker turned around Whitbread with a simple but effective strategy built around Costa Coffee and Premier Inns. What hope for them now in the declining leaisure industry.

From an investing point of view I would have considered all 3 of those companies as great investments.

I love my apple Iphone, love shopping at Tesco's and love a trip to Costa Coffee.

However despite all that you feel you are looking for the next Steve Jobs, Terry Leahy and Alan Parker to invest in, not backing those companies that they have now left.

Warren Buffett may be heavily invested in Tesco's but I'm backing away from all 3 geat companies.

Better to spend time searching for the next generation of great businessmen building the great companies of tomorrow.

Any ideas then let me know, the Dunover.com investment fund is waiting for opportunities to invest ............

Dunover.com fund at risk as Lloyds Bank now more donkey than stallion

It’s a big call for Dunover.com investment portfolio as we are invested heavily into a Lloyds Banking Group recovery. More heavily than I would ideally like.

But with the shares falling to 28p we are a victim of circumstances and it will take some balls to get out of this tricky investment situation.

What should we do at Dunover.com then ??

Panic and sell the lot at a big loss.

Sell half and cut our losses and maybe buy back in at a lower price later.

No, none of the above.

We have just bought more at 28p today with what remaining spare cash we currently have.

It’s a conviction purchase.

Whilst the Stock Markets might be shorting Lloyds heavily and forcing the share price down, we still believe Lloyds are in a good solid recovery position.

So we are buying more at bargain prices.

Not a place I would choose to be having a large amount of our portfolio at risk but then I did not choose the share price to go down to 28p either.

So you have to do something at 28p.

If we’ve called it wrong, then we’ll all be in the soup kitchens ………….

20th Aug - DIY Investors giving up ?

Reports that investments in Fund of Funds have reached record levels is a great disappointment. 

Fund of Funds are a classic modern day Financial Services product. You basically pay a fund manager to invest your money for you in another Fund Manager who invests your money for you. So fees can be taken off you twice.

Lined up to sell this concept is the reward of bumper commission to Financial Advisors to push these products to private investors.

Meanwhile performance tracking indicates that in many cases these fund of funds are very poorly performing.

The disappointment is that your average man in the street would still rather go to a Financial Advisor and blindly follow what he says without any research to challenge the advice given.

In fact I'm feeling people generally put more research into buying a TV than they would into investing their pension funds. Yet the cost to them could be significant over a very long period.

A simple tracker fund would be 10 times cheaper than a fund of funds and there is no evidence to suggest that the returns would be any worse.

Cheaper still, buy a few shares yourself across the Footsie 100, then you have a reasonable risk free spread.

At the very least, check out the advice you get from your Financial Advisor before sinking your cash into a black hole.  

Arrogant traders are getting it so wrong here, Buy, Buy Buy Lloyds Bank

This fat bloke whose opinion I have no regard for, came onto BBC news last night declaring to the nation that "the markets" were just not satisfied that politicians were doing enough to stablise the Financial Markets across Europe and America. Hence they would keep selling until they were satisifed.

We really have lost the plot here have we not. Here is me thinking the people running our pension and investment funds would be looking for long term growth opportunities.

That seemed to be the last thing on the mind of this fat, greedy individual as he announced to the nation he was still selling.

Anyway time for us helpless private investors to take advantage here.

If our fat greedy market traders have decided that they want to use their clients money to engage in a willy waving war with Goverments and drive the price of Lloyds Banking Group down to 28p then I can only say thanks very much for that.

I'm currently raising every penny I can to buy Lloyds Banking Group shares at that ridiculously low bargain price.  

Our investment strategy at Dunover.com is laid out here:
http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1234.0

The Women of Whaddon show how to make money whilst being at home

Absolutely brilliant are these ladies from Whaddon, Bucks above.

The women above for various reasons have to be at home and in some cases have had redundancy packages to help set themselves up.

They use the power of the internet to help run their business. The theme being English traditions and passions:
home made fruit cakes
hiring out vintage crockery
retro ice cream van
restoring antique furniture
designing couture wedding dresses
hairdressing/beauty salons

It's a theme all in the UK today nearing retirement or even younger have to face. We can't afford to retire hence we need to be entrepreneurial and take a flexible view towards earning for the future. 

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1261.0

God luck to them all !!

and you can contact them all as below:

Hayley Southwood vintagescoops.co.uk
Johanna Hehir johanna-hehir.com
Jo Mortimer-Bush myvintageday.co.uk
Samantha Wickham thefabulousfruitcakecompany.co.uk
Sue Dewar couchi-couchichairs.co.uk
Suzy Christie lifestylesalons.com

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2024177/How-women-village-turning-WI-style-skills-money-making-enterprises.html#ixzz1V0OZZFjL

Bank of Dave and Channel 4 take on Project Merlin and the High Street Giants

Enjoyed listening to a representative of small businesses yesterday as he lampooned the High Street Banks and the Government for starving small businesses of cash.

He stated that Project Merlin to agree loan quota’s was merely an agreement between politicians and the Banks to try and show that everything was fine in the lending sector. It had nothing to do with helping businesses.

30% of small businesses reported that they had applications for loans to grow their business turned down.

A higher percentage which I can’t remember clearly stated that their business growth plans were shelved because they could not get funding.

Somewhat astonishing when you consider we are desperate to climb out of recession right now.

So not only did the greed of the Banking community bring the British economy to it’s knees it is also now strangling the recovery by their desperate desire to maintain their own profits and bonuses at the exclusion of everyone else.

But along then comes Bank of Dave …

Channel 4 have commissioned a tv series to be filmed spring 2012 to follow millionaire entrepreneur and avid Burnley fan David Fishwick trying to take on the Banking giants head on by setting up his own bank to lend to local Lancashire businesses.

Good to know that the British entrepreneurial spirit is not dead and there are still people around who want to do something for others and not just line their own pockets.

Looking forward to watching how he gets on putting Burnley on the map:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1258.0        

 

Charles Dickens wake up, there's much to write about in 2011

Good news for executve pensions this week, they are up to an average of £175k per annum. 

Leaders in the Exective Pension club continue to be the stars pictured above, Eric Daniels from Lloyds on £210,000 a year for life. Fred Goodwin from RBS gets £342k a year for life and he's only 53 years old. 

All this while their companies under their stewardship brought the country to it's knees and destroyed their shareholder value. 

Oh and the value of the pension funds they ran too. 

Meanwhile down with the workers. 

Campaigns are ran to reduce public sector pensions down to the poverty levels of private sector workers because it's cheaper that way. 

Annuity rates are slashed meaning workers get even less for their pension pot when they do retire. 

Pension funds, many larger than country economies save all the rewards for themselves and give pathetic returns to pensions investors. 

Then along comes NEST to compulsory enrol workers into these pathetic products. Workers are then encouraged to pay even more of their money into the pathetic pension industry for even longer periods of time. 

The reality of this is that no one can afford to retire anymore. We are all heading for a flexible kind of reirement where we work till we drop and then get our houses taken off us to pay for our retirement homes. 

Enter Charles Dickens, poverty is no longer in the workhouses with the young. 

We needs some stories on the old, the workhouse residents of the future. 

Executive pension scandal:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1252.0        

FTSE drops 10% in a week, we are doing some re-alignment at Dunover.com

Call me King Canute if you like but .........

To put this in context. At the bottomof the stock market crash the FTSE dropped to 3,800.

Subsequently it climbed back to 6,000 but this week it has dropped back to now be 5,246.

You have to make a call now as to where the markets go from here.

Given the massive debt issues do you think we are heading back to 3,800.
If yes, then you should be selling out completely and buying back in at the bottom.

What are we doing at Dunover.com

Our large long term recovery holdings in RBS and Lloyds have taken a hammering and currently sit at 28p and 32p respectively. To be worthwhile selling and re-buying you would need them to drop at least a further 10%. Do we think they will go down to 25p and 29p.

Our call is not to panic. We are holding Lloyds and RBS.

The Western World are definately broken but we have changed our investment strategy to invest in Asia driven companies anyway.

So we have sold out of our European driven recovery plays Dixons, French Connection and Premier Foods anyway and sitting on the cash.

Our revised 5 companies to buy into Mulberry, Burberry, ARM, Autonomy, GlaxoSmithKline are all dropping with the stock market at present.

So we are holding onto our sale proceeds for now and wait for the market to steady a bit before buying into our super 5 companies. 

The market ecovery has basically been set back a year this week.

That in my opinion is fair given the debt issues of USA and Europe.

Do I think we are going back to a FTSE of 3800 ??

Answer is no. My view is the markets will be a bit rocky during thin trading in the holiday season and will steady in September when everyone comes back to cheap share prices and hopefully some political solutions to the economic problems.

So we are holding and keeping our nerve but using the opportunity to re-align to our new more heavily Asia based investment strategy.     

Retail Research on the Luxury big sellers at Bicester Village

Well I went to do some research on the Dunover revised investment strategy of investing more fully in Chinese, Indian and Arab spending power.

Meanwhile writing off the heavily in debt American and European economies.

So off we trotted to the luxury goods paradise of Bicester Village.

Sadly I succumbed in the process to buying myself a new leather wallet at Samsonite, such is the power of the spending frenzy that goes on at Bicester Village.

Meanwhile, the research showed a very clear picture of what is hot and what is not in the luxury shopping world..

Unfortuneately though, only a limited number of these companies are available for us to invest in.

We were looking for shops attracting the people who have the big money to spend i.e. Chinese, Arabs, Indians.

Research being done based on the people at the tills of our local Retail outlet, Bicester Village. That being the highest Retail spend per square foot in the world, so a good place to judge. 

Listed in order of volume of customers

Burberry - well established as a Chinese favourite

Prada - iconic Italian brand, established attraction to all

Samsonite - Chinese and everyone else going crazy for their leather suitecases and travel bags

Mulberry - emerging Chinese popularity

Jimmy Choo - all round popularity

Hugo Boss - popular amongst the Chinese

Juicy Couture - as worn by Colleen Rooney, very popular amongst Chinese and emerging Arab taste

Reiss - as worn by Duchess of Cambridge, popular amongst all

Ted Baker - British shoppers only, no Chinese in the store

Superdry - see Ted Baker

The rest, 100/1 outsiders for customer popularity I'm afraid

31st July-A massive gaping Pensions problem, does Iain Duncan Smith have the answers

I like the recent quote from Lord Hutton on public service pensions which went something like this:

It's not about removing what is a good pension position but about making it more affordable for the country. Well said that Lord, what we want is to get back to everyone retiring with a really strong pension provision.

So how do we get private pension provision to this level ?? - is the problem to be solved

Consider this from a recent OECD report:
outlook for future economic growth in developed economies is "uncertain and sluggish," and pension funds could suffer in the medium term, the OECD said warning that a fall in interest rates would weaken overall fund performance. 
http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1232.0

So what we are saying here is that pension funds are going to perform poorly. 

Consider this also:
the average pension pot submitted to Aon Hewitt is £56,000. If you took your 25% tax free cash of £14,000 then the remaining £42,000 would buy you a pension of £1200 a year
and also maybe this:
If you earn £40,000 a year and paid 9% into a pension that would be £300 a month. But to achieve a pension of say £24,000 a year index linked you would have to pay £600 a month from the age of 23.  

and the view from Tom McPhail pensions advisor at Hargreaves Lansdown
"Everyone should find out how much is being paid into their pension if it is less than 12pc of your salary, it is not enough." 
http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1231.0

Let me give the view of Dunover.com in all of this.

Yes I want to save for a comfortable retirement.

No I don't want to lock my money away into a pension fund where I can't get at it again until I'm 65

Yes I am not taking the tax breaks available for investing in retirement plans because I want free access to my money and avoid it being locked into poorly peforming pension funds until I'm 65

No, my children do not want to invest £600 a month in their pension as they have other financial issues to address i.e. paying back their student loans and trying to buy a home.

No I don't want to be locked into an Annuity when I retire because they are an increasingly poorly performing product 

Yes I may consider putting my investment funds into a pension plan near to my retirement as that may be beneficial from a tax perspective 

The overall message being:  
We need to think again on how the common man can build up a retirement income.

The sales spin from the retirement savings industry is not going to wash with me.

I and my children are not going to lock away £600 a month in a pension fund from the age of 23 in the hope that it will still be there when we get to aged 65.

So the next idea to sell us is ............................???

Rents rocket, but who would buy a house

The reason house prices are too high is a simple one.

The lending criteria from the banks which led to the current house price levels was based upon small deposits and interest only mortgages.

Now we have the opposite from the Banks, repayment only mortgages and 30% deposits.

So as Barratt Developments reported yesterday the new Govt scheme to provide a 20% loan matched by 5% from the purchaser has proved very popular with 100,000 people registering.

But it does not make financial sense to buy into a property you can't afford which will be reducing in price in a falling housing market.

Although rents are increasing at an annual rate of 4.1% it's still the better approach at the moment.

And probably will be for some time to come.

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1223.0 

We are renting and have no intention of buying until house prices fall significantly from their current levels.

Bicester Village Shopping Outlet - a shoppers paradise

Had a walk up there with Diana yesterday as it's just down the road from us.

Beautifully set in a quiet country town, walking through the trees from the car park, the sense of quiet with an American New England feel is just what the doctor ordered for a shopping trip.

Bicester Village has the highest recorded sales per square foot of any shopping centre in the world.

You can see why. It is beautifully cleaned and maintained, high quality eating and drinking places and the toilets and services are all top quality. It's a great shopping experience even for an unenthusiastic shopper like me.

The string of brands you see as you walk down the main street is relentless, Prada, Burberry, Mulberry, Dior, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Anya Hindmarch, Diane von Furstenberg.

There’s a White Company for duvet covers, a Le Creuset if you’ve run out of cast-iron pans, a Bonpoint for well-dressed babies and a Jack Wills for their teenage siblings. Also a Bose electronics store, offering, for example, a home cinema system reduced by £780 to £1,820.
There is no sign of recession here. Bicester Village has become the top attraction for Chinese visitors outside of London, with plenty of celebrities dropping in for a visit too.

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1192.0


What did we buy there then, a samsonite suitecase for £90 reduced from £250 and a pair of shoes from LK Bennett at £60 reduced from £150. Very happy we were with our purchases too.
So forget the recession, treat yourself to a luxury shopping expedition and help the country too by helping our retailers and spending some money :)   

John Lewis sales up 20% - bucking the High St trend

Carnage on the High Street all week then along comes John Lewis posting a sales increase of 20%.

How do John Lewis do it then when Thornton's, HMV, TJ Hughes, Jane Norman don't seem to be able to.

Well apart from the obvious of stocking goods people want to buy.
  

Picking up on readers comments on the Daily Mail feature see if there is a theme developing that failing shops can learn from:

"What a surprise! John Lewis' customer service is excellent whilst the rest of UK industry's so called customer service is woeful, pathetic and dire; even if I have to pay an extra few £££s I prefer to buy from John Lewis knowing that if there is a problem they will help solve the issue."

"John Lewis are nice company. Good quality and service. Look after the employees with the profit share. They are a good model for other companies. Look after your staff, and they'll go that extra mile."

"One of the biggest incentives for me shopping at John Lewis are their free guarantees on most of their products. I also like the way everything is laid out in the shop and the staff are really friendly professional, knowledgeable and attentive."

"Want to know why? It's easy, they offer REAL customer service. Customers appreciate good staff. I would rather pay more to a shop that delivers good service and products, than to a store who pays minimum wage and provides staff who kno w nothing about their stock."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010379/John-Lewis-bucks-trend-Sales-20-rest-High-Street-struggles.html#ixzz1QwOK1zA1

So in summary then all you High Street store owners, it's all about Customer Service being excellent.

Thats what will get us off our PC's and into the shops.

Better log off then and get there now.

Much healthier too than sitting at my PC all day :) 

Keep on spending, do your duty for your country

The suggestion is from Tim Mack of National Savings and Investments is that we save money by making  packed lunches and cycling to work.

Then he suggests we open a direct debit and put the saved amount into one of his savings accounts and watch it grow.

Given the average instant access savings account is paying only 0.9% that will be a long time in the growing.

Some 35% of people in the NS&I poll said they were saving for a house.

Working that out though, on a typical £150,000 property, you would need £37,000 to reach the 25 per cent deposit curently being demanded for first time buyers. At £100 a month, it would take you over 30 years of saving to get the deposit together.

With inflation currently at 5.2% on the last 12 months RPI, any savings you have are being wiped out very quickly.

Any case, we are all struggling for money right now and the last thing the government wants is for people to stop spending money and send more British businesses into bankruptcy.

So get out to the shops and get spending, it's the best thing to do for the country right now.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009854/Astonishing-SIX-MILLION-Britons-savings-all.html#ixzz1Qw77tgtu

Too hot to eat says Mr Kipling

Premier foods then, the countries biggest food manufacturer.

Rocked by the markets as their share price dropped 22%, down to 19p.

People just don’t seem to be hungry anymore ??

The company gave one of the reasons for their profit warning was the unseasonably hot weather affecting the consumption of bread. Probably also the consumption of Mr Kipling cakes, fray bentos pies and smash.

Oh and also the loss of a significant pie contract to M&S costing it £10 million.

Oh and also the increased commodity costs resulting in £150 million additional cost.

The share price has now dropped 90% since it’s 2007 high of 300p.

But food is a cyclical business and the current consumer downturn is hitting sales of all things including food.

Ask yourself would you eat Hovis bread, Mr Kipling cakes, Branston pickle, Loyd Grossman sauces, Sharwood sauces.

If the answer is yes then you may also want to consider gobbling up some shares in Britains largest food producer at a very cheap price of 19p.
http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1212.0

But has to be on the belief that they won’t go bust before the British consumer starts getting hungry again.        

Lloyds Bank strategic review, you read it hear first .....

30 Jun

…..or actually it’s been appearing in the newspapers for about the last 10 days.

How will the share price react to this today then ??

Well there is a well known investment saying “if it’s in the papers it’s in the price” .

So this review must have been factored into the price for the last 2 weeks at least.

Ah yes the Lloyds share price. On the 24^th March with the share price at 60p Lloyds were tipped as a buy by brokers Evolution:

“Lloyds is the only bank in our coverage where we think investors might have a realistic chance of doubling their money, on an 18-24 months view. Lloyds remains our Top Conviction Buy.”   

Impressive indeed, and if you bought at 60p then you would be looking at a share price of 44p as we speak.

Oh dear ……………..

But if you believe that review then you are now looking at a potential increase of three fold if you bought now. Would that be 200% or 300% ? Not really sure but of the maths but an impressive investment if it came off.

So what will Antonio’s review say today, blah blah boring no doubt. Another 15,000 jobs to go, 1 billion out of costs, Halifax a challenger brand, Scottish Widows is staying, coming out of the APS scheme, bring back dividends next year …………

So unless Antonio goes off message, which is about as likely as Gordon Brown admitting the Lloyds/HBOS thing was all a huge mistake in the first place, it should be a predictable affair today.

But this quote from a city analyst is interesting:
“Investors will not be satisfied just by efforts to slim down the bank and will want a clear idea of the key areas in which it plans to invest over the next few years to boost revenue.
“The worry is that Lloyds is cutting costs to stand still,”

Lets hope the investors get satisfied then at some point.

Dunover Investments have been sinking money into Lloyds at various prices over the last year. It’s all been documented here:
http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=813.0

Having told all family members and friends to do the same I’m finding life a little uncomfortable with a share price sitting at 44p.

Staying in is the new night out for all Lloyds investors at the moment, or that is certainly the case with my social life for now.

My calls of “don’t panic” and “it’s a long term investment” are best made in phone calls, it’s more pleasant that way and easier to avoid eye contact.

But when that share price hits the Evolution target of £1.20, I know they will all love me again …………

Save HMV - but the Facebook page is empty

Another one of Britain’s iconic brands in big trouble then. Share price diving down 13% today to the princely sum of 9p.

Much angst amongst the music industry that as a music retailer HMV must not be allowed to go bust.

Well ok then so what do their target market think about them having shops on the High Street ?

Number 3 daughter downloads only so never goes in there. Though she thinks a good vinyl collection might get her in, vinyl getting big now apparently. A music boffin that girl and sadly a definite thumbs down from her.  

Number 3 son however, also keen on his music, gives HMV a thumbs up. He likes to browse there for ideas of what to buy in the music sections he likes. Much easier and quicker in a shop than on the internet.   

Likes to buy cd’s for himself and for presents, you can’t really give a download as a present, fair comment I thought. He would also look at buying music equipment there whilst he was in shopping too.

But buying DVD’s there, a definite no no, get them much cheaper off Play.com.

He also thought the HMV Customer Service was good, the staff are generally young and up to date on the music scene.

Neither of them at all interested though in any more fanciful ideas of Starbucks in store or high speed download booths for music and movies.

It’s a tricky one though, how to make the high street stores viable. Any bright ideas leave a comment below.

Maybe the future for HMV going forward is to just shut all the stores and specialise in an integrated retail distribution website and live music company.

At 9p a share and a market capitalisation of £40 million HMV is ripe for a takeover should someone wish to make a grab for the iconic British brand then strip out some of the assets.

A hard numbers assessment of the finances for a takeover are right here if you fancy a punt:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1208.0

As an investor it’s a tricky call at 9p a share, where is the upside in the price.

It’s a mixed view from our target market focus group, they like the shops but don’t go there often.

Meanwhile all those out there who say “we must not let HMV go bust” seem to be doing very little about it, can’t even be bothered to join the Facebook “save HMV”  page can they.

Where is the brand loyalty these days ………………

Thorntons chocolates - yummy yummy, but not if your an investor

Why was I not surprised when Thorntons announced they were closing down another 120 stores today.

Thats because every time I look into a Thorntons store it is practically empty.

Why is that I have often pondered, I don't know the answer.

They are expensive, shops are rather dull.

Diana is a great chocolate fan but all she ever does at Thornton's is walk in and ask to see the discounted chocolate on offer.

Share price is down almost 50% since last October.

Recovery play, I think not.

What is the answer to Thorntons chocolates ??

No doubt soon going West, the same way as another iconic British brand i.e. Cadbury

Interest only mortgages - negative equity but still cheaper than renting

Well err yes, interest only mortgages. Thought they would be seen historically in a similar light as sub prime mortgages.

But a readers comment on FT Alphaville set me thinking as they suggested that actually interest only mortgages is effectively cheaper than renting but with greater rights than a normal tenant.

Novel way of looking at it I thought.

Being alarmed that the only way a first time buyer could buy a house in the infamous 2008 was to get an interest only mortgage, worry being, how would you ever pay off the equity.

I'm now seeing the way forward then, it's a kind of renting.

Guess there are no new entrants to that bandwagon now though as Banks are insisting on massive deposits for any loans.

But those already in this in betweenie group i.e. "owner renters" are actually in a good position in that it is cheaper than renting.

Slight drawbacks then:
- negative equity, mitigation being, just walk away at some point. But what is at risk is any deposit you may have put in the house
- propery repairs and maintenance, you don't have to pay those if you rent
- interest rate rises could blow you out but rates are not going up whilst the economy is in the doldrums.
- have to move house, well that may crystalise your loss and you won't get another mortgage

Otherwise, owner renters should just sit tight and enjoy being cheaper than renting.

HMV and Dixons front lining the internet war

Shopping is becoming more and more a social occasion where you meet up with friends and family, browse a bit, drink a Costa coffee and impulse buy a few things.    

Why would you go shopping on your own, you can do that on the internet.

Though I have to say buying clothes on line with ASOS which is the current trend would never suite me as I have to try things on first.

Food shopping on line, would never do that either as I generally want to pick my own food and don't want to have to wait around for delivery. 

So maybe clothes shopping and food still done face to face, but not much else for me to be honest.

Visions of a ghostly High Street then with all the units for sale or rent and all the shoppers sitting at home or spending at an out of town dedicated shopping centre.

It is fascinating though to watch the struggles of famous High Street names as they battle the relentless march of internet shopping.

I first became interested in the fate of Dixons when David (number 1 son) studying Accountancy had researched Dixon’s for Uni and said what a good company they were.

So I bought some of their shares in my self invest pension. Having bought at 23p,  I just wish I’d waited until they went down to 11p before I’d struck.

Currently at 15p David’s belief in them and my desire not to panic may be rewarded eventually.

Having got interested then in the battle of rescuing Dixons I also had a close look at HMV too. Both companies being heavily tipped as great recovery plays during 2011.

I became even more interested in HMV as a recovery play when their shares crashed to 9p. But even at that price I still did not buy.

HMV are at great risk of being the next Woolworths, a great traditional name famous for once having lots of customers.  

People are probably buying more music than ever before but the great overpriced CD rip off is now firmly behind us. Downloaded music for your iplayer in your bedroom is just a million miles from parking up and walking into the local HMV store.

DVD’s too then, hello Amazon, why would you shop anywhere else for a movie, then Amazon can even suggest what other similar films you might enjoy watching and tell you what everyone else is buying. It’s a great on line experience !!

Currently HMV are engaged in a fire sale of assets to pay off some debt. Waterstones just sold closely followed by the Canadian HMV today for £2 million.

Next up for them is a realignment. Selling electronic media in their shops like Ipods and Ipads and branching out into music gigs, festivals, events etc. Hmmmmm

Difficult to know where you would go with HMV shops.

But Dixons though are still sitting in my pension fund.

Well they look to be doing all the right things to me to battle against the recession and the internet.

What I want in PC World is advice when I need it and also to get things fixed. Apparently the most popular home service is installing wall mounted flat screen tv’s.

Their new tech service “Knowhow” will supply exactly this.

So Dixons not dead yet and I may well still go there to buy a washing machine or fridge.

But I did buy my last TV and laptop on line, oh dear ….

The bloody battle raging between the High Street shop and the internet to see which shops can survive and how is a compelling situation.

I was on our local High Street last Sunday and it was quite eerie, hardly any people and lots of boarded up shops. Meanwhile half a mile down the road there was barely a parking space to be had at one of the Worlds most successful shopping outlets, that being Bicester Village outlet store.

Just where will it all end ?

Investing in Gold

Interesting feature from the Daily Mail here about investing in gold:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php?topic=1202.0 

It has often come up in conversation but no one is ever sure quite how to do it. 

And where would you keep it, under the mattress ? No thanks !!

The two amusing things I know about investing in gold:

- I've already heard the story of Gordon Brown selling off half of the UK gold reserves at $275 an ounce. By the time he left office gold was selling at $1,414 an ounce. So he had cost the country billions of £'s

- Warren Buffett is not a great lover of investing in gold, he described it as:

“[Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

    

Lol, I think he's trying to say, Gold has no intrinsic value ....

Have you spotted a white charger near you ....

looking to rescue .........

knock the black horse into line ....

Hello - first day

Guess, to be honest I'm trying to make money by investing successfully what I have .

Who isn't !

Well actually a lot of people are not.

So a trade off of me trying to make money is that I would like to encourage everyone else to take control of their money too.

To get well informed.

So we have a website with all the information on:

http://www.dunover.com/investments/index.php

an informed view on how to invest and of what our family are broadly doing with their money.

Personally I am a big Lloyds Banking Group Investor and recommended my friends and family to be too. Have you seen the share price recently oh dear !!

Hence I'm struggling for friends at the moment, and for money for that matter :)